Greg Mail cracked his 44th First Grade century in the Sydney premier competition to steer Sydney University to a five-wicket win over Blacktown at Joe McAleer Oval on Saturday.
In a high scoring affair the Students chased down Blacktown’s 356, to finish 5-357, with Mail unbeaten on 106.
He hit 11 boundaries in his 142-ball stay and shared a 101-run, fourth-wicket partnership with Damien Mortimer (59) and a 97-run fifth-wicket partnership with Ashton May (31).
Sydney University have now strung together six consecutive wins to head the Belvidere Cup competition on 55 points, with Gordon (49), Sydney (48), Bankstown (44), Randwick-Petersham (43) and Parramatta (40) making up the top six with four rounds of the competition proper to play. Sydney University also head the Third Grade ladder.
The club’s Under 21 Poidevin-Gray Shield side finished sixth to earn a qualifying final against Parramatta at Old King’s Oval on February 19, while the Metropolitan Cup side are in fourth place with four rounds to play before the qualifying finals.
And, with Second, Third and Fourth grades winning at the weekend, Sydney University are closing in on a tightly-fought Club Championship, which is headed by Northern District on 1116 points, with Sydney (1074), Penrith (1021) and Sydney University (1015) still in contention.
With three two-day matches and a limited overs match to round out the competition proper, Sydney University will host Parramatta on February 4-5, meet Randwick-Petersham at Coogee Oval on February 11-18, host Fairfield-Liverpool on February 25-March 4 and meet Bankstown in a 50-over clash at Bankstown Memorial Oval on March 11.
And, just to keep cricket buffs happy, Mail now has a record 15,145 First Grade runs His 44th First Grade century leaves him eight clear of Victor Trumper, Warren Bardsley and Bob Simpson, each with 36.
In the third round of the 2016-17 season he shared a club record opening stand of 337 with opener Nick Larkin on day one of their two-day fixture against Manly-Warringah at University Oval.
NSW Blues squad member Larkin cracked an unbeaten 206 and former NSW representative Mail posted 179 in Sydney University’s 1(dec)-424 off 85 overs.
Their opening stand surpassed the first wicket partnership of 324 between Will Hay and Mail back in the 2009-10 season.
The stand was also the second best opening partnership in the 124-year history of the McDonald’s NSW Premier Cricket.
Trumper and Dan Gee posted a 423-run partnership for Paddington against Redfern, at Redfern Oval, in 1903.
Mail has also been involved in two of the top five opening partnerships and four triple century stands, including a record 390 for a second wicket partnership, with Matthew Phelps, for Sydney University against Mosman in 2006.
He also shared a 310-run partnership with David Miller against Northern District in 2009-10; a 246-run partnership with Scott Henry against Eastern Suburbs in 2013-14; and a 176-run partnership with Larkin against Gordon in 2010-11.
Third Grade opener Tom Kierath also reached three figures on Saturday, with his 103 helping the Students to first innings points over Blacktown at Jim Hanshaw Oval.
Scoreboard
Sydney Men’s Premier competition – Round 11 (Two-day matches)
First Grade: Sydney University 5-357 off 92 overs (Greg Mail 106 not out, Ed Cowan 79, Damien Mortimer 59, Nick Larkin 42, Ashton May 31; Daya Singh 2-66, Nathan Hinton 1-37) defeated Blacktown 356 off 90.5 overs (Arron Lilley 77, Jake Fawcett 60, Dean Crawford 48, Usman Butt 43; Dugald Holloway 3-44, Tim Ley 3-72) by five wickets at Joe McAleer Oval on Saturday. Toss: Sydney University. Batted first: Blacktown. Points: Sydney University 6, Blacktown 0.
Second Grade: Sydney University 190 (Nicky Craze 58, Ben Trevor-Jones 35) defeated Blacktown 89 off 56 overs (Grant McCartin 23, Gurinderjeet Hara 20; Jonathon Craig Dobson 4-33, Lawrence Neil-Smith 2-7) and 3-179 (Daniel Nicotra 83, Grant McCartin 70) on the first innings at Sydney University Oval on Saturday. Toss: Blacktown. Batted first: Blacktown. Points: Sydney University 6, Blacktown 0.
Third Grade: Sydney University 7-228 off 61 overs (Tom Kierath 103, Kevin Jacob 76; William Chesterfield 3-55, Waqas Tareen 2-44) defeated Blacktown 142 off 60.4 overs (Gokula Ganeshkumar 37, Alex Titterton 35; Henry Clark 3-23, Ryan Kurtz 2-25, Joe Kershaw 2-30) on the first innings at Jim Hanshaw Oval on Saturday. Toss: Sydney University. Batted first: Blacktown. Points: Sydney University 6, Blacktown 0.
Fourth Grade: Sydney University 9-239 off 79 overs (Nick Fitzgerald 72, Ryan Kurtz 47 not out, Jack Hill 37) defeated Blacktown 236 off 79 overs (Aaron Gater 57, Yuvraj Sharma 33) on the first innings at St Paul’s College Oval on Saturday. Toss: Blacktown. Batted first: Blacktown. Points: Sydney University 6, Blacktown 0.
Fifth Grade: Blacktown 8-197 off 79 overs (Matt Brinnand 44 not out, Haider Khan 36, Modacer Momandi 27; Connor Slater 3-46) defeated Sydney University 196 off 64.4 overs (Sameer Murthy 46, Cristian Lorenzato 44, Brodie Frost 33, Michael Harris 32 not out; Hassan Rauf 4-37, Matt Brinnand 3-55) on the first innings at Whalan Oval on Saturday. Toss: Blacktown. Batted first: Sydney University.
Poidevin-Gray Shield – Round 6 (Limited Overs)
Sydney University 9-158 off 43.2 overs (Ryan Danne 44, Kevin Jacob 26; Will Simpson 3-39) defeated Eastern Suburbs 137 off 42.2 overs (William Lawrence 44, Jack Remond 33; Lawrence Neil-Smith 3-18, Jonathon Craig Dobson 2-22) by one wicket at Sydney University Oval on Sunday. Toss: Eastern Suburbs. Batted first: Eastern Suburbs. Points: Sydney University 6, Eastern Suburbs 0.
Metropolitan Cup – Round 10 (Limited Overs)
Sydney University 8(dec)-314 off 69 overs (Hugh Farrow 108, Timothy Fitzgerald 49; Scott Blundell 4-122) defeated Mosman 67 off 36 overs by 247 runs at Balmoral Oval on Saturday. Toss: Sydney University. Batted first: Sydney University. Points: Sydney University 10, Mosman 0.
Sydney Women’s Premier competition: Rounds 11 and 12(Twenty20)
Universities 9-60 off 18.4 overs (Olivia Porter 15, Emily Mifsud 15; Tiarne Hamam 4-10, Clare Crewdson 2-8) defeated St George-Sutherland 59 off 18.1 overs (Rebecca Cady 15; Emily Mifsud 4-9, Kate Owen 3-7, Nell Gibson 2-6) by one wicket at Bill Ball Oval on Sunday. Toss: Universities. Batted first: St George-Sutherland. Points: Universities 6, St George-Sutherland 0.
Campbelltown-Camden 7-119 off 20 overs defeated Universities 9-90 off 20 overs (Maddy Darke 30, Kate Owen 30) at Bill Ball Oval on Sunday. Toss: Universities. Batted first: Campbelltown-Camden. Points: Campbelltown-Camden 7, Universities 0.
Sydney Women’s Premier competition: Third Grade Round 14
Campbelltown-Camden 4-126 off 20 overs (Megan Clarke 31 ret/not, Amanda Wilson 30 ret/not out; Taylor Ling 3-15) defeated Universities Gold 5-84 off 20 overs (Kate Edwards 27; Sonia Collins 2-6) by 42 runs at Clark Reserve I on Saturday.
